Chapter 530: Navigating the Mountain of Books
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the entrance of the library, the left side was for depositing your bags, as no bags or backpacks were allowed in the library. The right side was a map of the library. Facing the entrance was an information desk.
As numerous temperate glasses were installed in the outer wall, the lighting was excellent inside the library. Looking up at the ceiling, the library had an atrium structure, spiraling up like a tower.
Meng Li pointed at the map, and introduced to Zhang Zian, "Counting the ancient books, the renovated Binhai City Library holds more than 2 million books, and the number is growing. It's the biggest library in our province, and one of the biggest in the country. The library has one floor underground, and five floors above ground. The underground floor is used to preserve ancient copies, with controlled temperature and humidity. It's not open for public. You need certain credentials and reference letters to be allowed inside."
Zhang Zian was troubled after hearing this. Evidently, the Hall of the Ancient Books was where the elfin was most likely to appear. Maybe one of the books was written by the ex-owner of the elfin, or the elfin was first mentioned in one of the books, or some book was related to the elfin in some way…but there was nothing he could do. He had neither the credentials nor a reference letter. Entering the Hall of the Ancient Books was as hard as going to the moon. Not to mention that cellphones were definitely not allowed inside.
"Can I visit the other floors freely?" He asked.
Meng Li nodded. "The other floors are fine. We are standing on the first floor, with bag deposit, information desk, cafe, lecture room and the youth library. You can get a library card and other services at the information desk. The youth library is only open to teenagers and children under 16."
Fine. He could enter neither the Hall of the Ancient Books, nor the youth library. He had to say goodbye to elfins such as Doraemon and Mashimaro.
Meng Li continued: "The second floor is the area of Chinese books, including arts and science books, as well as reference books and literature. It's also divided into the reading area and borrowing area. The third floor is similar, except that the books are mostly in foreign languages, either original or photocopied."
"Above that, the fourth floor is the area for Chinese and foreign language newspapers and publications. You can also view the micro documents. The fifth floor is a digitalized reading area, where you can view the e-books and communicate with other readers."
As Meng Li explained on the side, Zhang Zian held his phone and scanned the first floor with the hunting interface of the game. The hall on the first floor was spacious and easy to see through. The elfin was not found either near the information desk nor the bag check. The cafe was isolated with a glass screen, with several groups of young people reading while drinking coffee. They were using the place as a cheaper Starbucks. Zhang Zian believed that the elfin would not appear in such a non-academic place as a cafe.
As for the lecture hall and the youth library, one was closed, and he couldn't enter the other. There was nothing he could do about it.
Neither of them were carrying a bag. Meng Li helped him get a free library's card, then asked, "Which floor is Manager Zhang heading?"
"It's my first time here. I'd like to take a look around first, then decide what books to borrow." Zhang Zian's real intention was not borrowing books. "Mr. Meng, please go ahead if you have other things to do. I won't hold you up any longer."
Meng Li shook hands and said, "No worries, Manager Zhang. I'll return some books first, then head to the foreign book reading area on the third floor. If you have any questions, come look for me on the third floor any time, or ask the information desk."
"OK. Thank you, Mr. Meng."
Meng Li went on the third floor himself. Zhang Zian came to the Chinese book area on the second floor. After just one look, he was astonished. He didn't visualize until this moment what 2 million books looked like.
This was indeed a mountain of books! On the second floor, rows of bookshelves were lined up in order, like soldiers in a ceremonial guard team. Each bookshelf measured about two meters tall and was divided into six levels. The shelves were filled with colorful books of various thickness.
The reading area in the middle was surrounded by rows of shelves. The readers of all ages were sitting in chairs and reading books attentively. Some people brought their laptops or tablets, taking notes while reading and studying.
The library was extremely quiet, and only slight keyboard and chair sounds could be heard. The visitors of the library were well-educated book-lovers. They were concerned about disturbing others.
Except that there were not as many readers as he had imagined, perhaps due to the new year's holiday. There were only one or two readers at each desk. Counting those searching for books among the shelves, there were no more than 50 readers in total on the second floor.
Since leaving the university, Zhang Zian had not stepped into a library, nor studied without utilitarian purposes for a long time. He envied those people. They took time to read in a library in such a restless world today.
The library that had cost so much money to build did not get enough attention in return. The leaders of Binhai City government would have been disappointed if they saw this. However, they couldn't do anything about it. As e-books were growing more popular, paper books were inevitably getting less popular and gradually dying.
Zhang Zian's mind clicked at this thought. The paper books were gradually dying… He thought of the elfin with fading Strength of Faith. Its appearance in the library may have a lot to do with paper books.
There was no time to think too much. He shook his head, raised the phone, and opened the hunting interface of the game to search around. The scarcity of readers was doing him a favor. It made elfin search easier. He lifted the phone, and searched from the entrance, to the shelves of each row.
Each row of shelves looked alike except the numbering. The books on the shelves were similar too. The eyes got tired easily after staring at them for a long time. Zhang Zian was afraid of missing a row. He took down the shelf number as he walked past them.
The readers searching for books among the shelves thought that the filming Zhang Zian was either doing an online broadcast or some novel profession, such as a vlogger. There were too many of those these days. Nobody talked to him.
There were a lot of shelves, but it only took 20 minutes to finish the search if he followed a specific order. Zhang Zian came back to the starting point after making a huge circle, finding nothing.
This elfin was extremely difficult to capture, and he didn't expect to find it easily. So he didn't feel frustrated. He tried to avoid thinking about the possibility of the elfin being in the Hall of Ancient Books or the youth library. Otherwise he would lose faith.
If he had enough time, he would surely find a way into the Hall of Ancient Books or the youth library. But the problem was...
Zhang Zian switched the game to the e-map interface. The icon was darker than before. He sighed, then climbed up the foreign book area on the third floor.